A production line for a product that is manufactured undergoing multiple processes is designed to avoid occurrence of surplus or slowdown of production, in order to enhance overall production efficiency.
A standard work time is one of basic information used for designing the process and giving an operating instruction in the production line as described above. The standard work time indicates a work time that is used by a worker having an average proficiency level, who performs the operation with normal effort under a standard working condition. A setting value of the standard work time has considerable influence on production efficiency in the production line, and therefore, setting an appropriate value is an essential element in establishing the production line.
In general, there are methods for calculating the standard work time such as: Work Sampling method for categorizing intermittent actions into operations so as to modify the actions to standard values (perform rating); Predetermined Time Standards method for segmentalizing human operations into standard actions and applying a predetermined time value to each of the basic actions; and Method-Time Measurement method for converting a size of the basic action, based on a moved distance or a degree of difficulty.
For example, a technique described in the patent document 1 is known as a method for actually utilizing the standard work time that is calculated according to the aforementioned methods.